1894 N142 Duke Cabinets Nash and Delahanty

Two of the four cards comprising the 1894 Duke cabinet set: Ed Delahanty and Billy Nash. 1) The Duke cabinet is perhaps the most impressive card ever produced of Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty, one of the nineteenth century's greatest stars. The offered card has a surface tear in the light background to the right of the portrait (approximately the size of a quarter), five small cuts in the left border of the card which, while significant, are not particularly distracting, some light water staining in the lower left border, corner wear (including some significant surface chipping in the upper right corner), and general soiling on the blank reverse. Despite these condition problems, the card still displays very nicely. The condition problems do not affect the image of Delahanty, which is bright and clean. There are very few cards of Delahanty as his career spanned the years 1888 to 1903. While he does appear in the N172 Old Judge series, the heart of his career was played in the 1890s, a decade during which very few baseball card sets were issued. 2) The Duke cabinet of W. M. Nash has chipped corners, a single pin hole in the center of the top border, and a very fine one-inch horizontal tear in right border which presents as a crease, and some general soiling to the reverse. The portrait, like that of Delahanty, is unblemished and free of defects. Despite the condition faults, this is still an impressive looking card. Two low-grade but still very desirable N142 Duke cabinets, representing exactly half of the set of one of card collecting's scarcest and most highly prized nineteenth-century cabinet card issues. Reserve $800. Estimate $1,500/$2,000.SOLD FOR $3,190.00

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